USA Today reporter Brett Molina writes that MIT researchers have found laser technology could be used to attract the attention of aliens. The researchers found “creating a 1- to 2-megawatt laser focused through a telescope aimed toward space could produce a light strong enough to stand out from the energy produced by the sun."
UPI reporter Tauren Dyson writes that a new feasibility study by MIT researchers shows that existing laser technology could be used to create a beacon light that could attract attention from as far as 20,000 light years away.
MIT researchers have found that laser technology could be used to attract attention from alien astronomers, reports Becky Ferreira for Motherboard. The researchers found that amplifying an infrared laser could “produce a signal that would outshine the Sun’s infrared emissions tenfold, an anomaly that would stand out to a smart species observing our solar system from a distant exoplanet.”
Two months after its launch, the TESS satellite has already identified two new exoplanet candidates, reports Mary Beth Griggs for Popular Science. “The team is excited about what TESS might discover next,” explains Prof. Sara Seager, who is serving as the deputy science director for the mission.
New Scientist reporter Will Gater writes that the TESS satellite has found its first two exoplanets. “This is one of the first objects we looked at,” says MIT postdoctoral fellow Chelsea Huang of the discovery of an exoplanet about 60 light years away. “We were immediately saying ‘hey this is too good to be true!’”
New York Times reporter Dennis Overbye writes about how the TESS satellite has already identified at least 73 stars that might have exoplanets. “TESS is doing great,” says George Ricker, a senior research scientist at MIT who is leading the TESS mission. Ricker adds that the satellite is, “all that we could have wished for!”
The TESS satellite has identified two new exoplanets, reports Joey Roulette for Reuters. “We will have to wait and see what else TESS discovers,” says Prof. Sara Seager, who is serving as the TESS deputy science director. “We do know that planets are out there, littering the night sky, just waiting to be found.”
The first image captured during the initial orbit of the MIT-developed TESS satellite shows thousands of stars in the Southern Sky, reports Brooks Hays for UPI. “Galaxies, globular clusters and thousands of stars can be found within the portrait of the Southern Sky. Hidden in the image are exoplanets,” writes Hays.
The MIT-developed TESS satellite has sent back its first batch of images of the southern sky from its quest to identify nearby exoplanets, reports writes Chris Ciacci for Fox News. Ciacci notes that the resulting images are “nothing short of incredible.”
Axios reporter Andrew Freeman writes that the TESS satellite has captured its first images of the southern sky. “This swath of the sky’s southern hemisphere includes more than a dozen stars we know have transiting planets based on previous studies from ground observatories,” explains MIT’s George Ricker, TESS’ principal investigator.
A new study by MIT researchers uncovers evidence that more than a quadrillion tons of diamonds are located in the Earth’s upper mantle, reports Katie Camero for The Boston Globe. Camero explains that, “researchers came to this conclusion after they found in global records over the past few decades a ‘glitch’ in seismic wave activity.”
Prof. Taylor Perron speaks with Boston Globe reporter Martin Finucane about the recent announcement that a lake was detected underneath the surface of Mars. “One of the exciting things about this discovery is that there could be other liquid water pockets like this one,” notes Perron.
Writing for Space.com, Chelsea Gohd reports that a team of researchers led by Hans Moritz Guenther at MIT’s Kavli Institute has observed a young star devouring a planet. “The researchers hope to get a better idea of what really goes on in the life of a young star and how infant planets manage to survive,” explains Gohd.
Newsweek reporter Aristos Georgiou writes that physicists from MIT and other institutions have observed a star, called RW Aur A, consuming a young planet. Observations made with NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory over a five-year period enabled the finding, explains Georgiou.
A team including MIT research scientist Ulrich Faul has discovered that the Earth’s interior contains 1,000 times more diamonds than was previously thought, writes Sarah Emerson for Motherboard. The researchers believe that one to two percent of “craton roots,” which are the deepest sections of the “rock layers extending upwards of 200 miles through the Earth’s crust and mantle,” may contain diamonds.